Containerization continues to grow at a rapid pace in connection with the intermodal industry. Land at rail and shipping terminals and distribution hubs is at a premium. There is generally a scarce amount of land for expansion to store and accommodate chassis storage on the ground level. With the shortage of land in terminals and hubs, there is a need to better utilize space.
There is a need to handle and store chassis in more efficient ways that have minimal land requirements and footprints.
There is a need to be able to handle, accommodate and temporarily store, a high volume of chassis in proximity to terminals, hubs and the like that accommodate chassis, with multi-level storage stalls or racks.
Bottlenecks are seen in existing rail terminals and hubs, which result in freight delays. Terminal and hub operators would desire to use scarce land for more efficient uses then chassis storage. There is a myriad of potential inefficiencies associated with handling and accessing chassis. For example, ground level storage areas can be cluttered with poorly parked chassis, chassis can be difficult to find or difficult to access, damaged chassis can be intermingled with undamaged ones, etc. which can introduce significant delays, costs and inefficiencies.
In more detail, truck line carriers typically return a chassis to a ground level storage. The truck line carrier or driver can damage a chassis during operation and can deliberately or erroneously deposit the chassis in the “usable chassis area”, which is the area designated as serviced and approved to use. This way the truck line carrier or driver avoids a damage claim being made. There is a need to minimize and prevent damage claims not being reported, called “phantom damage”.
In further detail, when a subsequent driver picks up a damaged chassis in a ground level storage area and is not aware that the chassis is damaged, unsafe or in need of maintenance, this causes major delays and costs. The driver may not recognize there is damage to the chassis, until a container is placed onto the chassis. Now the container has to be off loaded and the damaged chassis must be taken out of service, and a new undamaged chassis must be put in service. These kind of problems can cause hours of delay for drivers, operations personnel and crane operators. There is a need to minimize erroneous use of damaged chassis.
There is a need to provide a method and device that minimizes the possibility of placing a damaged chassis in service.
There is a need to provide a method and device that minimizes the possibility of placing a damaged chassis in service, by providing a method for examining that inbound chassis are substantially undamaged before they can are placed back in service.
Thus, there is a need for the development of new technologies to improve the efficiency of freight and chassis transfer operations at terminals and distribution facilities.